Lady Elizaberh is perhaps the world's most famous wreck extant. H er hulk has been a Port Stanley Landmark for almost a hundred years. 1hese three photos reveal the durability ofiron as a shipbuilding material-her three masts are still standing nearly 75 years after she was abandoned.
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caprain cried to scuttle her ar Whalebone Cove to exringuish rhe fire. The ship was less rhan half a year old when chis happened. She srayed ar Whalebone Cove umil 1909, when she was sold ro Chrisrian Salvesen's whaling company, salvaged, and towed to New Island, Wesr Falkland, to be pur to use as a coaling barge for the Sourh H arbo ur W haling Sration. Ar char rime, rhe Glengowan's rhree towering mases of sreel were srill imact. In 1916, rhe sration burned and was closed down. Equipmem was dism anded and sem to Sourh Geo rgia; rhe ship was lefr behind. N ine years lacer, she broke her moorings and sank nearby, much like rhe Bayard fourteen years prior. The Glengowan has srayed in that locatio n ever since. In comrasr to her rwo older iron sisrers memioned above, little is lefr of chis big and once-proud sreel ship. Her entire poop suucrure is long gone, as is her m ain deck. Only a few scarrered pieces of her rusred frames and part of her hull is lefr above water. The one part of the ship made of wrought iron is the rudder pose, and it is rhe only part of the ship char appears imact. Unlike the older ships nearby, also abandoned and exposed to the elemems for decades, chis yo unger vessel made from "superior" sreel is too far deteriorated for even rhe mosr imaginarive to think of her as a proud windjammer from the last days of sail. Rust has consumed her almost entirely. The Bayard, at 146 years old, and the Lady Elizabeth, at 13 1 yea rs old, have never been worked on as restoration projects. They have just been sitting in their locations for abo ut one hundred years and refuse to die. They are original relics from rhe beginnings of the industrial revolution and superb artifacts to research . Their sheer presence is the best proof of the superiori ry of "rotten old iron" compared to steel in regard to longeviry. Its lasting quali ry is simply amazing, and this is why the few iron ships left in the world should be treated as historic treasures. They comain original marerial from rhe rime they were built and are rhus excellem artifacts for furure generations to interpret and study. On the coast of Norway, three Norwegian-built iron ships remain. They h ave never received much attemion from the antiquarians, much like rhe Bayard and the Lady Elizabeth. Many nations and the institutions within them are challenged in how rhey regard presierving historic ships and maritime herirage. Tihe No rwegian Governmem, for example, d hose to spend big money replacing rhe emtire hulls in much yo unger steel
SEAHllSTORY 133 WINTER2010-ll